How Indeed Became the Leading Job Site Around the World

Job search is different all around the world, which is why launching the world’s leading job site in 50+ countries and 28 languages didn’t happen overnight.

Over the last 10 years, Indeed has steadily grown into these markets, with careful consideration for the needs of local job seekers and employers. Today, of the 140 million unique visitors that come to Indeed each month, 58% are visiting from outside the US.

At a recent talk, Davide Novelli, Director of International Online Operations, shared how this growth took place. Here are the three most impactful efforts that enabled Indeed to become the leading destination for job seekers across the globe:

Building up local market expertise

Growing the best job site in the world requires a team of highly qualified professionals who know their market inside and out. For every Indeed site launched around the world, we’ve hired people who understand the market and ensure that the site is tailored to local needs.

Our international team supports every facet of Indeed outside of the US, from translating localised text to representing the local needs of their markets, all to make Indeed the most relevant job site for people everywhere.

Delivering relevant results with contextual translation

To ensure job seekers and employers everywhere are able to use Indeed, we use a three-step translation process that begins with a baseline translation that is then sent to a professional translator and is ultimately verified by managers for each market.

Text is a critical component of using Indeed, and we know translations must be contextual in order to help international users find the most relevant jobs. We developed this approach to make sure cultural differences and local needs are supported with the most accurate and contextual translations.

Designing the job search experience for every location

Indeed works the same for job seekers everywhere—no matter where they are in the world, they simply search for what job they want to do and where they want to do it.

And, to make Indeed accessible to job seekers in all markets, we had to keep location-based needs in mind. For example, in 2012 we launched Indeed Apply, a feature that allows people to apply for jobs from any mobile device. With more than two million new resumes being added to Indeed each month, an increasing number of people can apply easily using an Indeed Resume on any smartphone or tablet.

While resumes may be the primary application requirement for jobs in the US and Australia, we knew this wasn’t the case everywhere. We realised jobs in other countries may require additional documents, such as transcripts or certifications, to complete an application. That means people aren’t able to apply for these Indeed jobs on mobile devices.

To make Indeed Apply more accessible to employers and job seekers in these regions, we analysed what would happen if we enabled people to include multiple attachments on a job application. We estimated that this would increase the number of applications via mobile, and this is the kind of analysis we’re running all the time — routinely honing in on the improvements that will make Indeed more accessible to job seekers everywhere.

By taking local needs into consideration, as we did with our translation process and Indeed Apply, we can have a significant impact on job search all over the world.

To learn more about our experience expanding Indeed to global markets, watch the full video on the Indeed Engineering Blog.

Looking for candidates worldwide? Contact us to learn how Indeed can help.